Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-12-22

with the God Of battles DER us,
Tread we now the land.
March! lill purity shall level
Safe highway for peace.
March 'gainst hendisb rout and revsL
Forward for release. march,"
CAN PROHIBITION BE MADE SUCCESS
FULi
From the Toledo Blade.
We put the question in the above
form, for the more ready compre-
hension of the point involved. 1t
is commonly stated thus: "Does Pro-
hibition prohibit" Aud the answer
IL, as = rule, made to be a negative
one. But the reasoning through
which such result is made TO I'D.
pear II incorrect, because based upon
the fallacy that if law is infrnged
or violated, L. II a failure.
That this is not The test Of a laws
value Is at once apparent when ap.
phed to any statute except prohlb-
itory one. Every day the police
courts of our cities are called to try
cases Of theft; there is hardly an
issue Of daily newspaper but con
taius an account of burglary or
robbery; shall we then say that the
laws against larceny and burglary
are Iu,ifectlve--that they don't pro-
hlbit these things? Shall We start
a crusade for their repeal, because
men still steal, despite the laws?
There are stringent laws in every
state against the violation of the
seventh commandment; yet there Is
not "a city of any size IN the land IN
which the social evil" il not found.
Shall We then start the cry that the
laws against unchastlty "don't pro-
hibit," and that therefore they must
be rcpealedY
Yet that is exactly the ground
that the enemies of Prohibition in
Iowa and in the city of Atlanta are
now standing upon. They are ask
ing for the repeal of the prohlbitory
law upon the ground that it cannot
be uforced-that rum is still sold,
despite the law. And, To make this
plea as strong as possible with the
unthinking, they have falsifed the
facts, aud made out the violations to
be much more numerous than they
really are.
These talsihcauons stirred up the
friends of Prohibition law In Des
Noines, who recently appointed a
eiuzrns' committee to investigate
and report as to the truth of alleged
statements that ~ much liquor is
sold in that city now as before the
prohIbitory amendment was adopted.
The committee reports that the state
ments are untrue When the law
went INTO force, July 4, 1854, there
were siXty-three licensed saloons, a
score of drug stores, four hreweries
and one disullery, and numerous
illicit places where liquor was sold.
Now there is no open selling or max
ing of liquor. The report says:
"The effect upon crime has been
great. The number of commit
ment to the peuitentiary for the en-.
tire state in the year ended August,
1854, were one in 5,ot5 of the pop
ulauon; the following year one in
5,o46; IN 1856, one in 5,4la; and in
1857, one in 6,294. For the year
ending August 81, 1854, there were
twenty-seyen persons sent from this
county To the penltenuary; IN 1850,
there were twenty; while for the
year ending August 81, 1887, only
thirteen. The commitments to the
county jail also show marked de
creased. The number Of iudict,
ments by the Grand Jury gets less
every term, while the costs in court
expenses have fallen off more than
one-half
1--WE have not been able to hear
of any one desirable citizen leaving
our state because Of prohibition, but
of many who have come into it be,
cause of prohibition. We have re-
ceiyed the present year large car
riage factory, with twelve hands, a